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:iMONIALS 


TO THE MERITS OF 


THOMAS PAINE, 

AUTHOR OP “COMMON SENSE,” “THE CRISIS,” “RIGHTS 
OF MAN,” “ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE,” 
^<^GE OF REASON,” &C., 40., 


COMPILED BY 

JOSEPH N. MOREAU. 

»% 


“The World is my Country. 

To do Good my Religion."— Paine's Motto. 


BURLINGTON, N. J.: F. L. TAYLOR 

1861. 





Entered according to Act of Congress', in the Year One Thousand Eight 
Hundred and Sixty-one, by F. L. TAYLOR, in the Clerk’s Office of the District 
Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 













"V 


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o 


i 

i 

i 


REV. M. D. CO 1ST WAY 


TO THE 


OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, 


THE FIRST CLERGYMAN 


WHO IIAS HAD THE MORAL COURAGE TO CHAMPION IN THE PULPIT 
THE CAUSE OF ONE WHOSE FAIR NAME, THOUGH NOW 
DEFAMED, SHALL ONE DAY DESERVEDLY SHINE 
FORTH AS THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN 
THE AMERICAN GALAXY, 


THIS LITTLE WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 


BY HIS FRIEND 


THE PUBLISHER. 


* 




TO THE READER. 

The following little work will, perhaps, give you 
a more high conception of the important and merito¬ 
rious services of the “Archimedes of the Eighteenth 
Century” to mankind, than could he conceived from 
the perusal of any “Life” of him ever issued from 
the Press; for, instead of its being the opinion of 
one individual, and that opinion perhaps biased, it 
is a collection of the sentiments of some seventy 
Historians, Statesmen, Poets, and Divines, many of 
whom were opposed to his political, and almost all 
to his theological views. If it in the slightest degree 
adds to your appreciation of Paine, the object of the 
compiler will be accomplished. 

JOSEPH K MOREAU. 


NOTE BY THE PUBLISHER. 


Mr. Moreau, having joined the Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, left the work more incomplete than the 
publisher desired. In fact, it was exceedingly diffi¬ 
cult, from the mass of testimony of like character to 
make selections of that which might be the most 
desirable for so small a work. Should Mr. Moreau 
return from the campaign, a similar pamphlet, con¬ 
taining the balance of testimonies, will doubtless be 
published. 


TESTIMONIALS 


TO THE MERITS OF 


THOMAS PAINE. 

- • - 

GEN. GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

First President of this great Republic, in a letter to 
Thomas Paine, inviting that author and patriot to par¬ 
take with him, at Rocky-hill, says :— 

“ Your presence may remind Congress of your past 
services to this country, and if it is in my power to im¬ 
press them, command my best exertions with freedom, 
as they will be rendered cheerfully, by one who enter¬ 
tains a lively sense of the importance of your works.” 

In his letter to Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, this 
honored hero writes :— 

“ That his Common Sense and many of his Crisis were 
were well timed and had a happy effect upon the public 
mind, none I believe who will turn to the epoch at which 
they were published, will deny. That his services have 
hitherto passed off unnoticed is obvious to all.” 

Washington to Gen. Joseph Reed, March 1776: 

“ By private letters which I have lately received from 
Virginia, I find that “ Common Sense” is working a pow> 
erful change there in the minds of many men.” 

“ A few more such flaming arguments as were exhibit¬ 
ed at Falmouth and Norfolk, added to the sound doc- 



8 


trine and unanswerable reasoning contained in the 
pamphlet “ Common Sense ,” will not leave numbers at a 
loss to decide on the propriety of a separation/’— Gen. 
Washington, to Joseph Reed, dated Cambridge, Jan. 31, 
1776. 


JOHN ADAMS, 

The Second President of the United States, who spared 
no occasion to underrate Thomas Paine’s services, and to 
assault his opinions and character, the transparent mo¬ 
tive being a jealousy to be considered himself the great¬ 
est mover of the ball of Independence, thus writes to his 
wife on the 19th of March, 1776 :— 

“ You ask me what is thought of Common Sense. Sen¬ 
sible men think there are some whims, some sophisms, 
some artful addresses to superstitious notions, some 
keen attempt upon the passions, in this pamphlet. But 
all agree there is a great deal of good sense, delivered in 
clear, simple, concise and nervous style. His sentiments 
of the abilities of America, and of the difficulty of a re¬ 
conciliation with Great Britain, are generally approved.” 


THOMAS JEFFERSON, 

The third President of the United States, and the writer 
of the glorious “Declaration of Independence,” thus 
speaks of the “Author Hero,” who first suggested it, 
in a letter to Francis Eppes: 

“You ask my opinion of Lord Bolin gbroke and Thomas 
Paine. They were alike in making bitter enemies of 
the priests and pharisees of their clay. Both were 




9 


honest men; both advocates for human liberty. * * 

* These two persons differed remarkably in the style 
of their writing, each leaving a model of what is most 
perfect in both extremes of the simple and the sublime. 
No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of 
style, in perspicuity of expression, happiness of eluci¬ 
dation, and in simple and unassuming language. In 
this he may be compared with Dr. Franklin.” 

In 1801, in a letter to Paine tendering him a passage 
to the United States from France, in a national vessel, 
Jefferson writes: 

“I am in hopes you will find us returned generally to 
sentiments worthy of former times. In these it will be 
your glory to have steadily labored, and with as much 
effect as any man living. That you may long live to 
continue your useful labors and to reap the reward of 
the thankfulness of nations, is my sincere prayer.” 


JAMES MADISON, 

The Fourth President of the United States, and ex¬ 
pounder of the Constitution. In 1784, a bill was 
brought before the Virginia Legislature, proposing to 
give Mr. Paine a tract of land on the eastern shore of 
Chesapeake Bay. It was defeated by a single vote. 
Monroe stated that it would have been carried in his 
favor, had he not written “Public Good.” It was this 
that called forth the following from Madison to Wash¬ 
ington : 

“ Whether a greater disposition to reward patriotic 
and distinguished exertions of genius will be found on 
any succeeding occasion, is not for me to predetermine. 
Should it finally appear that the merits of the man 
whose writings have so much contributed to infuse and 



10 


foster the spirit of Independence in the people of Ame¬ 
rica are unable to inspire them with a just beneficence, 
the world, it is to be feared, will give us as little credit 
for our policy as for our gratitude in this particular.” 

“I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness 
beyond this life. I believe in the equality of man; and I believe 
that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and en¬ 
deavoring to make our fellow creatures happy .”—(Thomas Paine. 
See “Age of Reason .”) 

JAMES MONROE, 

The fifth President of the United States. The follow¬ 
ing extract is from a letter written by this gentleman 
to Paine, previous to the release from the Luxembourg 
of “the Apostle of Liberty”: 

“It is necessary for me to tell you how much all your 
countrymen—I speak of the great mass of the people— 
are interested in your welfare. They have not forgotten 
the history of their own Revolution, and the difficult 
scenes through which they passed; nor do they review 
its several stages without reviving in their bosoms a due 
sensibility of the merits of those who served them in 
that great and arduous conflict. The crime of ingratitude 
has not yet stained , and I hope never will stain our national 
character. You are considered by them as not only 
having rendered important services in our own Revolu¬ 
tion, but as being, on a more extensive scale, the friend 
of human rights, and a distinguished and able advocate 
in favor of public liberty. To the welfare of Thomas 
Paine the Americans are not, nor can they be, indif¬ 
ferent.” 

‘•It is unnatural and impolitic to admit men who would root up 
our independence to have any share in our legislation, either as 
electors or representatives, because the support of our independence 
rests, in a great measure, on the vigor and purity of our public 
bodies .—(The Crisis, No. 3.) 



11 


GEN. ANDREW JACKSON, 

The “ Hero of Hew Orleans/’ and the seventh President 
of the United States, said to the venerable philan¬ 
thropist, Judge Hertell, of Hew York, upon the latter 
proposing the erection of a suitable monument to Thos. 
Paine: 

“Thomas Paine needs no monument made by hands; 
he has erected himself a monument in the hearts of all 
lovers of liberty. ‘ The Bights of Man,' will be more 
enduring than all the piles of marble or granite man 
can erect.” 


THE REPUBLICANS AND REFORMERS 

Of England, in 1792, looked upon Paine as the true 
“ Apostle of Freedom.” They circulated a song to his 
praise, commencing 

“God save great Thomas Paine! 

His Bights of Man proclaim 
From pole to pole!” 

(,See Preface, Cheetham’s Life of Paine.) 

“ To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority 
of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in 
contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavor¬ 
ing to convert an Atheist with Scripture .”—(The Crisis , No. 5.) 


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 

Who first introduced Thomas Paine to the new world, 
says, in a letter he gave the English Exciseman recom¬ 
mending him to his son-in-law, Richard Baclie (1774) 

“ The bearer, Mr. Thomas Paine, is very well recom¬ 
mended to me as an ingenious, worthy young man. Ho 




12 


goes to Pennsylvania with a view of settling there. I 
request you to give him your best advice and counte¬ 
nance.” 

About 13 years after. Dr. Franklin gave him letters 
of introduction to several of the most prominent of the 
French “ men of letters.” The following is an extract 
from one to the Due de la Rochefoucauld : 

The bearer of this is Mr. Paine, the author of a 
famous piece entitled Common Sense , published here with 
great effect on the minds of the people at the beginning 
of the Revolution. He is an ingenious, honest man; 
and as such I beg leave to recommend him to your 
civilities.” 


TIMOTHY PITKINS, 

In his Political and Civil History of the United States, 
says :—•“ Common Sense” produced a wonderful effect 
in the different Colonies in favor of Independence. 


HEV. SOLOMON SOTJTHWICK, 

Printer, politician and lecturer against Infidelity, and, 
at one time, the editor and publisher of The Christian 
Visiter , says: 

“No page in history, stained as it is with treachery 
and falsehood, or cold-blooded indifference to right or 
wrong, exhibits a more disgraceful instance of public 
ingratitude than that which Thomas Paine experienced 
from an age and country which he had so faithfully 
served. As the Tintochus of the Revolution, and it is 
no exaggeration to style him such, we owe everlasting 
gratitude to his name and memory. Why, then, was 




13 


he suffered to sink into the most wretched poverty and 
obscurity, after having, in both hemispheres, so signally 
distinguished himself as the friend of liberty and man¬ 
kind? Was his religion, or want of religion, the real 
or affected cause ? Did not those who feared his talents, 
make his religion a pretext not only to treat him 
with cold neglect, but to strip him, if possible, of every 
laurel he had won in the political field, as the brilliant , 
undaunted and successful advocate of freedom ? As to 
his religion, or no religion, God alone must be the judge 
and arbiter of that. No human being, no human tri¬ 
bunal, can claim a right even to censure him for it, 
much less to make it the pretext for defrauding him, 
either in life or death, of the reward due to his patriot¬ 
ism, or the legitimate fame of his Exertions in the cause 
of suffering humanity. Had Thomas Paine been guilty 
of any crime, we should be the last to eulogize his me¬ 
mory. But we cannot find he ever -was guilty of any 
other crime than that of advancing his opinions freely 
upon all subjects connected with public liberty and hap¬ 
piness. If he erred in any of his opinions, since we 
know that his intentions were pure, we are bound to 
cover his errors with the mantle of charity. We can¬ 
not say here all that we would wish to say. A brief 
note is insufficient to do justice to so important a sub¬ 
ject. We may, however, safely affirm that Paine’s 
conduct in America was that of a real patriot. In the 
French Convention he displayed the same pure and 
disinterested spirit; there his humanity shone forth in 
his exertions to save, at the risk of his own life, the 
unfortunate Louis XYI from the scaffold. His life, it 
is true, was written by a ministerial hireling, who 
strove in vain to blacken his moral character. The 
late James Cheetham, likewise, wrote his life; and we 
have no hesitation in saying, that we know perfectly 
2 


14 


well at the time the motives of that author for writing 
and publishing a work which, we have every reason to 
believe, is a libel almost from beginning to end. In 
fact, Cheetham had become tired of this country, and 
had formed a plan to return to England and become a 
ministerial editor, in opposition to Cobbett, and his 
“Life of Paine” was written to pave his way back 
again. We, therefore, presume that he acted upon the 
principle that the end justified the means. * * * * 

Had Thomas Paine been a Grecian or Roman patriot, 
in olden times, and performed the same public services 
as he did for this country, he would have had the honor 
of an Apotheosis. The Pantheon would have been 
opened to him, and we should at this day regard his 
memory with the same veneration that we do that of 
Socrates and Cicero. But posterity will do him justice. 
Time, that destroys envy and establishes truth, will 
clothe his character in the habiliments that justly be¬ 
long to it. * * * * We cannot resist the disposi¬ 

tion to say, that in suffering the home of the author of 
“Common Sense,” “The Crisis,” and “The Rights of 
Man,” to lie neglected, in the first place; and secondly, 
in permitting it to be violated, and his bones shipped 
off to a foreign country, contrary to all the laws of de¬ 
cency and civilization, we have added nothing to the 
justice or dignity of our national character; and we 
shall rejoice if impartial history tax us not with a gross 
departure from both.” 

“The key of heaven is not in the keeping of any sect, nor ought 
the road to it to be obstructed by any. Our relation to each other in 
this world is as men, and the man who is a friend to man and to 
his rights, let his religious opinions be what they may, is a good 
citizen, to whom I can give, as I ought to do, and as every other 
ought, the right hand of fellowship.”—( Paine's Letter to Samuel 
Adams , Jan. 1, 1803.) 


15 


DR. BENJAMIN RUSH, 

A member from Philadelphia of the Continental Con¬ 
gress, and Signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
gives the following account of the first appearance of 
“Common Sense”: 

“At that time there was a certain Robert Bell, an in¬ 
telligent Scotch printer and bookseller of Philadelphia, 
whom I knew to be as high-toned as Mr. Paine upon the 
subject of Independence. I mentioned the pamphlet to 
him, and he at once consented to run the risk of pub¬ 
lishing it. The author and the printer were immedi¬ 
ately brought together, and ‘Common Sense' bursted 
from the press of the latter, in a few days, with an effect 
which has rarely been produced by types and paper in 
any age or country.” 

“Mr. Paine’s manner of life was desultory. He often 
visited in the families of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Rittenhouse, 
and Mr. George Clymer, where he made himself accept¬ 
able by a turn he discovered for philosophical as well as 
political subjects.” 


“He (Paine) contributed much in aid of the Revolution 
by publishing a pamphlet entitled ‘Common Sense.'”— 
(. Duganne’s Comprehensive Summary.') 


RICHARD HENRY LEE, 

A distinguished patriot of the Revolution, and who, as 
member of Congress from Virginia, in 1776, first pro¬ 
posed to that body the Declaration of Independence, in 
returning thanks to General Washington for a copy of 
the Rights of Man , remarked : 

“It is a performance of which any man might be 
proud; and I most sincerely regret that our country 




16 


could not have offered sufficient inducements to have 
retained, as a permanent citizen, a man so thoroughly 
republican in sentiment, and fearless in the expression 
of his opinion.” 

In a letter of Lee to Washington, dated Chantilly, 
22d July, 1784, he says: 

“The very great respect that I shall ever pay to your 
recommendations, would have been very sufficient to 
have procured my exertions in favor of Mr. Paine, inde¬ 
pendent of his great public merits in our Revolution. 
I have a perfect knowledge of the extraordinary effects 
produced by that gentleman’s writings; effects of such 
an important nature as would render it very unworthy 
of these States to let him suffer anywhere; but it would 
be culpable indeed to permit it under their own eye, and 
within their own limits. I had not the good fortune to 
be present when Mr. Paine’s business was considered in 
the House of Delegates (of Virginia) or, most certainly, 
I should have exerted myself in his behalf. I have been 
told that a proposition in his favor has miscarried, from 
its being observed that he had shown enmity to the 
State by having written a pamphlet (The Public Good) 
injurious to our claim of Western territory. It has 
ever appeared to me that this pamphlet was the conse¬ 
quence of Mr. Paine’s being himself imposed upon; and 
that it was rather the fault of the place than of the 
man. This, however, was but a trifle, when compared 
with the great and essential services that his other wri¬ 
tings have done for the United States.” 

“It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to 
detect and expose delusion and error. But nature has not given to 
every one a talent for the purpose; and among those to whom such 
talent is given, there is often a want of disposition or of courage 
*© do it.”—( Paine's Examination of Testament.) 


17 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 

The following is related by Clio Bickman, the Poet, 
who was with Paine in France: 

“ When Bonaparte returned (to Paris) from Italy, he 
called on Mr. Paine and invited him to dinner. In the 
course of his rapturous address to him, he declared that 
a statue of gold ought to be erected to him in every city 
of the universe, assuring him that he always slept with 
his book u Bights of Man” under his pillow, and conjured 
him to honor him with his correspondence and advice.” 

Bickman then remarks on the above : 

“ This anecdote is only related as a fact; of the sincerity 
of the compliment those must judge who know Bona¬ 
parte’s principles best.” 

It might be here added, that when Napoleon meditated 
his invasion of England, by means of gunboats, he se¬ 
cured the services of Paine to organize a government if 
it proved successful. 


“ Paine was in Washington’s camp in December, 
1776, and the first number of the ‘ Crisis’ was published. 
It was read to every Corporal’s guard, and its strong 
and truthful language had a powerful effect in the army 
and among the people at large.”— Benj. F. Bossing , in 
his Field Book of the Revolution, vol.2,p. 275, Note. 


MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES LEE, 

Fourteen days after the publication of “ Common 
Sense,” thus wrote to General Washington : 

“ Have you seen the pamphlet 1 Common Sense V I 
never saw such a masterly, irresistible performance. It 
will, if I mistake not, in concurrence with the transcend¬ 
ent folly and wickedness of the ministry, give the coup 
2 * 




18 


de grace to Great Britain. In short, I own myself con¬ 
vinced by the arguments of the necessity of separation.” 

General Lee, speaking of the wonderful effects of 
Paine’s writings, said, that “ He burst forth on the 
world like Jove in thunder!” John Adams says that 
Lee used to speak of Paine as “ the man with genius in 
his eyes.” 


WILLIAM MASSEY, 

In his History of England, says: “ Thomas Paine’s 

pamphlet, Common Sense , in which the new doctrines of 
liberty and equality were broadly taught, was published 
in America, in January, 1776, and had an immense 
circulation.” 


Extract from a letter from a gentleman in Charleston, 
S. C., dated February 14, 1776: 

“ Who is the author of Common Sense ? I can hardly 
refrain from adoring him. He deserves a statue of 
gold .”—Pennsylvania Journal, March 27, 1776. 


CHARLES WILSON PEALE, 

In a letter to Silas Deane, dated Philadelphia, July 28, 
1779,says: 

“Believing Mr. Paine to be a firm friend to America, 
and by personal acquaintance with him, gives me an 
opportunity of knowing that he had done more for our 
common cause than the world, who had only seen his 
publications, could know, I thought it my duty to sup¬ 
port him.” 





19 


AARON BURR, 

In his compendium of the “Life of Paine/' (New York, 
1837) Gilbert Yale says: 

“ In reply to a query which we recently put to Col. 
Burr, as to Mr. Paine's alleged vulgarity, intemperance 
and want of cleanliness, as disseminated by those who 
•wished it true, he remarked with dignity, ‘Sir, he dined 
at my table.’ Then, am I to understand he was a gen¬ 
tleman? ‘Certainly, sir/ replied Col. Burr, ‘I always 
considered Mr. Paine a gentleman, a pleasant compa¬ 
nion, and a good-natured and intelligent man, decidedly 
temperate, with a proper regard to his personal appear¬ 
ance, whenever I saw him.'” 


JUDGE COOPER, 

Who was, according to Thomas Jefferson, “ One of the 
ablest men in America, and that in several branches of 
science,” thus wrote : 

“ I was at Paris at this time (1792,) but previous to 
my going there, Mr. Paine, whom I had met at Mr. 
Johnson’s, my bookseller, in St Paul’s Churchyard, 
gave me letters of introduction to M. LeCondorcet, and 
his wife, Madame DeCondorcet, who read and spoke 
the English language with considerable facility. Tlieso 
letters introduced me to the interesting society of that 
very talented writer and his family. I found the letters 
of introduction of Mr. Paine honored with that attention 
which might be expected towards an estimable and dis¬ 
tinguished man. * * * * I have dined with Mr. 

Paine in literary society, at Mr. Tiffins’, a merchant in 
London, at least a dozen times, when his dress, man¬ 
ners, and conversation were such as became the charac- 



20 


ter of an unobtrusive, intelligent gentleman, accustomed 
to good society. * * * Paine’s opinions on theologi¬ 

cal topics underwent no change before his death.” 


HENRY C. WRIGHT 

Says :—■“ Thomas Paine had a clear idea of God. This* 
Being embodied his highest conception of truth, love, 
wisdom, mercy, liberty and power.” 


REV. M. D. CONWAY, 

In a Sermon preached in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 29th 
of January, 1860, said: 

“ All efforts to stain the good name of Thomas Paine 
have recoiled on those who made them, like poisoned 
arrows shot against a strong wind. * * * In his 

life, in his justice, in his truth, in his adherence to high 
principles, in his disinterestedness, I look in vain for his 
parallel in those times, and in these times. I am select¬ 
ing my words; I know I am to be held accountable for 
them. So disinterested was he, that when his w^orks 
were printed by the ten thousand, and as fast as one 
edition was out another was demanded, he, a poor and 
pinched author, who might very easily have grown rich, 
w r ould not accept one cent for them, declared that he 
would not coin his principles, and made to the States a 
present of the copyrights. His brain was his fortune— 
nay, his living; he gave it all to American Inde¬ 
pendence.” 

“I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. 1 
content myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the 
power that gave me existence is able to continue it in any form and 




21 


manner he pleases, either with or without this body ; and it appears 
more probable to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter, than 
that I should have had existence as I now have before that exist¬ 
ence began.”—( Paine's Age of Reason , page 57, Philada. ed.) 


THOMAS CAMPBELL, 

The Poet, whose lyrics and didactic writings have 
secured him a niche in the Temple of Fame, says: 

“ Those who remember the impression that was made 
by Burke’s writings on the then living generation, will 
recollect that in the better educated classes of society 7 
there was a general proneness to go with Burke, and it 
is my sincere opinion that that proneness would have 
become universal, if such a mind as Mackintosh’s had 
not presented itself, like a break-water to the general 
spring-tide of Burkeism. I maybe reminded there was 
such a man as Thomas Paine, and that he strongly 
answered at the bar of public opinion all the arguments 
of Burke. I do not deny this fact; and I should be 
sorry if I could be blind, even with tears for Mackin¬ 
tosh in my eyes, to the services that have been rendered 
to the cause of truth by the shrewdness and courage of 
Thomas Paine. But without disparagement to Paine, 
in a great and essential view, it must be admitted that, 
though radically sound in sense, he was deficient in the 
strategetics of philosophy; whilst Mackintosh met 
Burke perfectly his equal in the tactics of moral science 
and in beauty of style and illustration. Hence Mackin¬ 
tosh went as the apostle of liberalism among a class, 
perhaps too influential in society, to whom the manners 
of Paine was repulsive.” 



22 


EDMUND BURKE, 

The celebrated Statesman and Orator, whose “ Reflec¬ 
tions on the French Revolution” called forth the “ Rights 
of Man,” speaks of “ Common Sense” as “ that celebrated 
pamphlet which prepared the minds of the people for 
Independence.” 


RAMSAY, 

Who, like Gordon, was cotemporary with Paine, says, 
in his 11 History of the Revolution,” alluding to “ Com¬ 
mon Sense” (see vol. 1, pp. 336-7, London 1793.) 

“ In union with the feelings and sentiments bf the 
people, it produced surprising effects. Many thousands 
were convinced, and were led to approve and long for a 
separation from the Mother Country; though that 
measure, a few months before, was not only foreign to 
their wishes, but the object of their abhorrence, the cur¬ 
rent suddenly became so strong in its favor, that it bore 
down all before it.” 

“ Let each of us hold out to his neighbor the hearty hand of 
friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like an act of ob¬ 
livion, shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissension. Let 
the names of Whig and Tory be extinct, and let none other be 
heard among us than those of a virtuous supporter of the Rights 
of Mankind, and of the Free and Independent States ov 
America.”—( Conclusion of Common Sense.) 


LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD, 

The noble, but unfortunate, Irish patriot, thus wrote to 
his mother, from Paris, in 1792, of the abused Thomas 
Paine, showing clearly that the more closely the habits 




23 


of that great man were studied, the more great and re¬ 
splendent did they shine forth: 

“I lodge with my friend Paine; we breakfast, dine 
and sup together. The more I see of his interior, the 
more I like and respect him. I cannot express how 
kind he has been to me; there is a simplicity of man¬ 
ner, a goodness of heart, and,a strength of mind in him 

that I NEVER KNEW A MAN BEFORE POSSESS.’' 


WILLIAM GRIMSHAW, 

In his “History of the United States," after acknow¬ 
ledging the merits of Dickinson, Bland, Franklin, 
Nicholas, Lee, Jefferson, and others, who supported the 
cause of the colonists with their pens, says: 

“But the most powerful writer was the celebrated 
Thomas Paine, of London, who resided for some time in 
America, and, in a work entitled Common Sense, roused 
the public feeling to a degree unequaled by any previous 
appeal." 


MARQUIS DE CHASTELLETJX, 

Author of a work on “ Public Happiness" and a cherished 
friend of General Washington, thus speaks of Paine, in 
his “ Travels in America :" 

“ I know not how it happened that since my arrival 
in America, I had not yet seen Mr. Paine, that author 
so celebrated in America and throughout Europe, by his 
excellent w r ork entitled, ‘ Common Sense,' and several 
other political pamphlets. M. De Lafayette and my¬ 
self had asked the permission of an interview for the 
14th, in the morning, and we waited on him accordingly 
with Col. Laurens. I discovered at his apartments all 




24 


the attributes of a man of letters, a room pretty much 
in disorder, dusty furniture, and a large table covered 
with books, lying open, and manuscripts begun. * * 

Having formerly held a post in Government, he has now 
no connection with it; and as his patriotism and his 
talents are unquestionable, it is natural to conclude that 
the vivacity of his imagination, and the independence of 
his character, render him more calculated for reasoning- 
on affairs, than for conducting them.” 


“ The 1 Eights of Man’ had much been read in this 
country. Even the ‘ Age of Eeason’ had obtained an 
immense circulation from the great reputation of the 
author.”—(Atlantic Monthly, vol. 4, p. 9.) 


LORD ERSKINE, 

“The greatest forensic advocate since the days of Cicero,” 
speaking of the American Eevolution, said: 

“ In that great and calamitous conflict, Edmund Burke 
and Thomas Paine fought in the same field together, but 
with very different success. Mr. Burke spoke to a 
Parliament in England, such as Sir George Saville de¬ 
scribes it, having no ears but for sounds that flattered 
its corruptions. Mr. Paine, on the other hand, spoke 
to the people, reasoned with them, told them they were 
bound by no subjection to any sovereignty, further than 
their own benefit connected them; and by these power¬ 
ful arguments prepared the minds of the American 
people for that glorious, just, and happy Eevolution.” 


JUDGE HERTELL, 

Of New York, says: 

“No man in modern ages has done more to benefit 
mankind, or distinguished himself more for the immense 





25 


moral good ho has effected for his species than Thomas 
Paine; who in truth merits eternal life, and, doubtless 
will be immortalized in the memory and gratitude of 
future generations of happy beings, who will continue to 
hymn his praises and make his merits known to remo¬ 
test posterity/’ 

“ It was the cause of America that made me an author.”—( Thos . 
Paine .) 


SIR FRANCIS BURDETT 

Thus alluded to Thomas Paine, in a speech in London, 
in 1797, as Chairman of a meeting of the “ Friends of 
Parliamentary Reform” : 

“ Union ! It is union among the people that ministers 
dread. They are aware that when once the people 
unite in demanding their rights, then there must be an 
end to illegitimate power; I mean all power not derived 
from the people. Ministers know that a united people 
are not to be resisted ; and it is this that we must un¬ 
derstand by what is written in the works of an honest- 
man too long calumniated , I mean Thomas Paine.” 


MADAME DE STAEL, 

In her “ Considerations on the French Revolution,” 
says : 

“ Thomas Paine was the most violent of the American 
Democrats; and yet, there was neither calculation 
nor hypocrisy in his political exaggerations. When the 
sentence of Louis XVI came under discussion, ho alone 
advised what would have done honor to France if it had 
3 




26 


been adopted, the offer to the King of an asylum in 
America. ‘ The Americans are grateful to him/ said 
Paine, ‘ for having promoted their Independence/ ” 


MADAME ROLAND, 

In her “ Appeal/’ says: (See vol. i, part 2, page 45, ed. 
1798.) 

“Among the persons I was in the habit of receiving, 
and of whom I have already described the most remark¬ 
able, Paine deserves to be mentioned. Declared a 
French citizen, as ono of those celebrated foreigners 
whom the nation ought with eagerness to adopt, he was 
known by writings which had been useful in the Ame¬ 
rican Revolution, and might have contributed to pro¬ 
duce one in England. I shall not take upon me to de¬ 
cide decisively on his character, because he understood 
French without speaking it, and I was nearly in the 
same situation with respect to English; I was, there¬ 
fore, less able to converse with him myself than to listen 
to his discourses with those whose political talents were 
greater than my own. The boldness of his conceptions, 
the originality of his style, the striking truths which he 
boldly throws out in the midst of those whom they 
offend, must necessarily have produced great effects; 
but I should think him better qualified to scatter, if I 
may be allowed the expression, the flames of conflagra¬ 
tion, than to discuss primary principles or prepare the 
formation of Government/’ 

General Washington’s Allowance of Grog to his Gar¬ 
dener.— G. W. P. Custis, in his “ Kecollections of Washington,” 
gives a copy of a contract, written in Washington’s own hand, be¬ 
tween George Washington and Philip Barton, his gardener. 
After the usual clauses, it provides that the said Barton “ will not, 



27 


P at any time, suffer himself to be disguised with liquor, except on 
terms hereafter mentioned.” After enumerating the clothing, etc., 
to be furnished, it further says, he was to be allowed “four dollars 
at Christmas, with which he may be drunk four days and four 
nights. Also, two dollars at Whitsuntide to be drunk two days; 
also a dram in the morning, and a drink of grog at dinner at 
noon.” 


REV. GEORGE CROLY, 

In his “Life of George IV,” thus speaks of Thomas 
Paine: 

“An impartial estimate of this remarkable person has 
been rarely formed, and still more rarely expressed. He 
was, assuredly, one of the original men of the age in 
which he lived. It has been said that he owed success 
to vulgarity. No one competent to judge, could read a 
page of his 1 Rights of Man/ without seeing that this is 
a clumsy misrep>resentation. There is a peculiar origi¬ 
nality in his style of thought and expression, his diction 
is not vulgar or illiterate, but nervous, simple, and 
scientific. Others have said of him, with more truth, 
that he owed his popularity to the hardihood with which 
he proclaimed and vindicated his errors. Paine, like 
the young Spartan warrior, went into the field stripped 
bare to the last thread of prudent conventional disguise; 
and thus not only fixed the gaze of men upon his intre¬ 
pid singularity, but exhibited the vigor of his faculties 
in full play. His ambition seems to have been that of 
an eccentric, well-intentioned desperado.” 

“ I consider myself in the hands of my Creator, and that he will 
dispose of me after this life consistently with his justice and good¬ 
ness. I leave all these matters to Him as m3" Creator and friend, 
and I hold it to be presumption in man to make an article of faith 
as to what the Creator will do with 11s hereafter.”—( Thos . Paine's 
“ Thoughts on a Future State.' 7 ) 



28 


“Though Nature is gay, polite, and generous abroad, she is sul¬ 
len, rude and niggardly at home: return the visit and she admits 
you with all the suspicion of a miser, and all the reluctance of an 
antiquated beauty retired to replenish her charms. Bred up in 
antediluvian notions, she has not yet acquired the European taste 
of receiving visitants in her dressing-room ; she locks and bolts up 
her private recesses with extraordinary care, as if not only re¬ 
solved to preserve her hoards but to conceal her age, and hide the 
remains of a face that was young and lovely in the days of Adam. 
He that would view Nature in her undress, and partake of her in¬ 
ternal treasures, must proceed with the resolution of a robber, if 
not a ravisher. She gives no invitation to follow her to the cavern. 
The external earth makes no proclamation of the interior stores, 
but leaves to chance and industry the discovery of the whole. In 
such gifts as nature can annually re-create, she is noble and pro¬ 
fuse, and entertains the whole world with the interests of her for¬ 
tunes, but watches over the capital with the care of a miser. Her 
gold and jewels lie concealed in the earth, in caves of utter dark¬ 
ness ; the hoards of wealth, heaps upon heaps, mould in the chests, 
like the riches of a necromancer’s cell. It must be very pleasant 
to an adventurous speculist to make excursions into these Gothic 
regions; and in his travels he may possibly come to a cabinet 
locked up in some rocky vault, whose treasures shall reward his 
toil, and enable him to shine, on his return, as splendidly as nature 
herself.”—( Written by Paine for the “ Pennsylvania Magazine”) 


JOEL BARLOW, 

The poet, patriot and statesman, an intimate friend of 
Paine, says: 

“ He was one of the most benevolent and disinterested 
of mankind, endowed with the clearest perception, an 
uncommon share of original genius, and the greatest 
depth of thought. * * * * 

“He ought to be ranked among the brightest and un¬ 
deviating luminaries of the age in which he lived. 

“As a visiting acquaintance and a literary friend, he 
was one of the most instructive men I ever have known. 



29 




He had a surprising memory and a brilliant fancy. His 
mind was a storehouse of facts and useful observations. 
He was full of lively anecdote, and ingenious, original, 
pertinent remark upon almost every subject. * * * 

“He >vas always charitable to the poor beyond his 
means, a sure protector and a friend to all Americans in 
distress that he found in foreign countries; and he had 
frequent occasion to exert his influence in protecting 
them during the Revolution in France. * * * 

“His writings will answer for his patriotism.” * * 

“In a great affair, where the good of man is at stake, I love to 
work for nothing; and so fully am I under the influence of this 
principle, that I should lose the spirit, the pleasure, and the pride 
of it, were I conscious that 1 looked for reward .—(Thomas Paine.) 


R. SHELTON MACKENZIE, D. C. L., 

An author, critic and literary editor of great ability, in 
an article on Muir, the Scotch Reformer, published in 
the Philadelphia Press, said: 

“Holding the belief that Paine’s theological works 
had much better never have been written, we cannot 
ignore the fact that he was one of the ablest politicians 
of his time, and that liberal minds, all over the world, 
recognized him as such. The publication of his ‘Rights 
of Man,’ while the French Revolution was proceeding, 
had so greatly alarmed Pitt, and the other members of 
the British Government, that a state prosecution was 
commenced to crush himself and his book.” 


REV. JEDEDIAH MORSE, 

In his “Annals of the American Revolution,” says: 

“A pamphlet, under the signature of ‘Common Sense/ 
written by Thomas Paine, produced a great effect. 
3* 




30 


i J ■ 

f | 

\. 

While it demonstrates the necessity, the advantages, 
and the practicability of Independence, it treats kingly 
government with opprobrium, and hereditary succession 
with ridicule. The change of the public mind on this 
occasion is without a parallel” 

“ Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like 
men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. We fight not to en¬ 
slave, but to set a country free .”—(The Crisis, No. 4.) 


WILLIAM COBBETT, 

Author of a “History of the Reformation,” and several 
other Works, and at one time a violent opponent of Thos. 
Paine, says, in his “Paper against Gold”: 

“In principles of finance, Mr. Paine was deeply 
skilled; and to his very great and rare talents as a 
writer, he added an uncommon degree of experience in 
the concerns of paper money. * * * Events have 

proved the truths of his principles on this subject, and 
to point out the fact is no more than an act of justice 
due to his talents, and an act more particularly due at 
my hands, I having been one of his most violent assailants .” 

In his “Political Register,” he confessed that, 

“ Old age having laid his hand upon this truly great 
man, this truly philosophical politician, at his expiring 
flambeau I lighted my taper.” 

He also says: 

“I saw Paine first pointing the way , and then leading 
a nation through perils and difficulties of all sorts to 
Independence, and to lasting liberty, prosperity, and 
greatness.” 

“The word of God is the creation we behold: and it is in this 
word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God 
speaketh universally to man.”—( Thos. Paine's Age of Reason, p. 25, 
Philadelphia edition.) 




31 


ABBE SIEYES, 

The distinguished French statesman, in 1791, upon the 
appearance of Paine’s “ Eights of Man” in France, thus 
wrote: 

“Mr. Thomas Paine is one of those men who most 
contributed to the establishment of a Eepublic in 
America. In England, his ardent love of humanity, and 
his hatred of every form of tyranny, prompted him to 
defend the French Bevolution against the rhapsodical 
declamation of Mr. Burke. His ‘ Eights of Man/ trans¬ 
lated intg our language, is universally known, and 
where is the patriotic Frenchman who has not already, 
from the depths of his soul, thanked him for having for¬ 
tified our cause with all the power of his reason and 
his reputation. It is with great pleasure that I embrace 
this occasion to offer him a tribute of my thankfulness 
and profound esteem, for the truly philanthrophic use 
he makes of his distinguished talents.” 


SAMUEL ADAMS, 

One of the most bold and sturdy patriots of the revolu¬ 
tion, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence^ 
in 1802, in a letter to Paine, lamenting the publication 
of the “ Age of Beason,” says: 

“ I have frequently, with pleasure, reflected on your 
services to my native and your adopted country. Your 
‘Common Sense/ and your Crisis’ unquestionably 
awakened the public mind, and led the people loudly to 
call for a Declaration of our National Independence.” 



32 


ARTHUR O’CONNER 

Wrote the following lines, had them printed, and dis¬ 
tributed them himself, on his way to imprisonment at 
Fort George, in 1798: 

I. 

“ The pomp of courts and pride of kings, 

I prize beyond all earthly things; 

I love my country,—but the king, 

Above all men, his praise I sing; 

The royal banners are displayed 
And may success the standard aid. 

II. 

“ I fain would banish far from hence 
The Rights of Man and Common Sense , 

Confusion to his odious reign, 

That foe to princes—Thomas Paine! 

Defeat and Buin seize the cause 
Of France, her liberties and laws.” 

(Bead the first line of the second verse immediately 
after the first line of the first verse—the second line of 
the second vorso, after the second line of the first, and 
thus continue throughout to connect the corresponding 
lines of each verse—having previously read them in the 
usual manner. The two modes of reading will be found 
ingeniously to convey distinct and opposite meanings.) 


An American girl once observed of Mr Paine, that, 
“ His head was like an orange—it had a separate apart- 
mont for everything it contained.” 



33 


WILLIAM HOWITT, 

In “ Cassell’s Illustrated History of England/’ says : 

“ There was no man in the Colonies, nevertheless, who 
contributed so much to bring the open Declaration of 
Independence to a crisis, as Thomas Paine, the cele¬ 
brated author of ‘ The Rights of Man/ and the 1 Age 
of Reason.’ ” * * * 

“ This Pamphlet (Common Sense) was the spark which 
was all that was needed to fire the train of Independence. 
It at once seized on the imagination of the public ) cast 
all other writers into the shade, and flew in thousands 
and tens of thousands all over the Colonies. * * * During 
the winter and sprii%, this lucid and admirably reasoned 
pamphlet was read and discussed everywhere, and by 
all classes, bringing the conviction that immediate in¬ 
dependence was necessary. The common fire blazed 
up in the Congress, and the thing was done. * * * * He 
(Paine) became the great oracle on subjects of govern¬ 
ments and constitutions, and contrived, both by personal 
exertions and through the press, to urge on the utter 
separation of the Colonies from the mother country.” 

“ Ship Building is America’s greatest pride, in which, she will, 
in time, excel the whole world.”—( Paine’s “ Common Sense.") 


MARY HOWITT, 

In her u History of the United States,” says: 

“ Early in this year (1776) Thomas Paine, a recent 
emigrant to America, and editor of the Pennsylvania 
Magazine , published a pamphlet, called * Common Sense/ 
which spoke at once the secret sentiment of the people. 
It went direct to the point, showing, in the simplest but 
strongest language, the folly of keeping up the British 



34 


connection, and the absolute necessity which existed for 
separation. The cause of Independence took, as it 
were, a definite form from this moment.” 


HON. SALMA HALE, 

In his “History of the United States,” says: 

“A pamphlet, entitled ‘Common Sense/ written by 
Mr. Thomas Paine, an Englishman, was universally 
read, and most highly admired. In language plain, 
forcible, and singularly well fitted to operate on the 
public mind, he portrayed the excellencies of Republi- 
can institutions, and attacked, witkhappy and success¬ 
ful ridicule, the principles of hereditary government. 
The effect of the pamphlet in making converts was 
astonishing, and is probably without precedent in the 
annals of literature.” 


CHARLES JAMES FOX, 

The English statesman, said of Paine’s ‘Rights of Man:’ 

“It seems as clear and as simple as the first rule of 
arithmetic.” 


MARY L. BOOTH, 

In her excellent “History of New York,” alluding to 
the opposition to Independence manifested by the 
masses in the early part of the struggle, says: 

“At this juncture ‘Common Sense’ was published in 
Philadelphia, by Thomas Paine, and electrified the whole 
nation with the spirit of Independence and Liberty. 
This eloquent production severed the last link that bound 






35 


the Colonies to the mother country; it boldly gave 
speech to the arguments which had long been trembling 
on the lips of many, but which none before had found 
courage to utter; and, accepting its conclusions, several 
of the Colonies instructed their delegates, in the Conti¬ 
nental Congress, to close their eyes against the ignis 
fatuus of loyalty, and fearlessly to throw off their allc- 
' giance to the Crown." 


REV. WILLIAM GORDON, 

In his “ History of the Bevolutionsays: (vol. 2, p. 78, 
New York, 1794.) 

“ The publications which have appeared have greatly 
promoted the spirit of Independency, but no one so 
much as the pamphlet under the signature of ‘ Common 
Sense/ written by Mr. Thomas Paine, an Englishman. 
Nothing could have been better timed than this per¬ 
formance. It has produced most astonishing effects." 


GEN. WM. A. STOKES, 

A distinguished member of the Bar of Pennsylvania, 
and by no means an admirer of Paine, is obliged, like 
Cheetham, to confess that the author of “ Common 
Sense" and the “ Crisis" 

“ Eagerly embraced the cause of the Colonies, and 
was soon to act an important and meritorious part. 
When 1 Common Sense’ was published a great blow was 
struck—it was felt from New England to the Carolinas, 
it resounded throughout the world. * * * * He not only 
reasoned, he flattered; he availed himself of prejudice, 
he dealt freely in invective. For this I do not censure 
him; for the tribune of the people, whose words 




36 


were to dismember an empire, might well resort to all 
the aids of art in accomplishing his stupendous task. * 
* * * Paine’s brawrny arm applied the torch which set 
the country in a flame, to be extinguished only by the 
relinquishment of British supremacy, and for this , 
irrespective of his motives and character, he merits 

THE GRATITUDE OF EVERY AMERICAN.” 


SAMUEL BRYAN, 

Secretary to Council of Censors on Pennsylvania Con¬ 
stitution, 1776, said: 

“ This book, ‘ Common Sense,’ may be called the book 
of Genesis, for it vras the beginning. From this book 
sprang the Declaration of Independence, that not only 
laid the foundation of liberty in our own country, but 
the good of mankind throughout the world.” 


CHARLES PHILLIPS, 

The eloquent Irish barrister, wrote the following beau¬ 
tiful tribute to Paine. It may be found in his “Loves 
of Celestine and St. Hubert:” 

“Among these, there was one whom I could not help 
viewing with peculiar admiration, because, by the sole 
power of surprising genius, he had surmounted the dis¬ 
advantages of birth and the difficulties of fortune. It 
was the celebrated Thomas Paine, a man who, no mat¬ 
ter what may be the difference of opinion as to his prin¬ 
ciples, must ever remain a proud example of mind, un¬ 
patronized and unsupported, eclipsing the factitious 
beams of rank, and wealth, and pedigree! I never saw 
him in his captivity, or heard the revilings by which he 
has since been assailed, without cursing in my heart 




37 


that ungenerous feeling which, cold to the necessities 
of genius, is clamorous in the publication of its defects. 
* * * * ‘Ye great ones of his nation! ye pretended 

moralists, so forward now to cast your interested indig¬ 
nation upon the memory of Paine, where were you in 
the day of his adversity? which of you, to assist his in¬ 
fant merit, would diminish even the surplus of your 
debaucheries? where the mitred charity—the practical 
religion? Consistent declaimers, rail on! What, though 
his genius was the gift of heaven, his heart the altar of 
friendship! What, though wit and eloquence, and an¬ 
ecdote flowed freely from his tongue, while conviction 
made her voice his messenger! What, though thrones 
trembled, and prejudice- fled, and freedom came at his 
command! He dared to question the creed which you, 
believing, contradicted, and to despise the rank which 
you, boasting of, debased.’ ” 

PAUL ALLEN, 

In his “History of the American Revolution,” says: 

“ Among the numerous writers on this momentous 
question, the most luminous, the most eloquent, and the 
most forcible, was Thomas Paine. His pamphlet, enti¬ 
tled ‘Common Sense/ was not only read, but understood, 
by everybody. It contained plain and simple truths, 
told in a style and language that came home to the 
heart of every man; and those who regard the inde¬ 
pendence of the United States as a blessing, will never 
cease to cherish the remembrance of Thomas Paine. 
Whatever may have been his subsequent career—in 
whatever light his moral or religious principles may be 
regarded, it should never be forgotten that to him, more 
than to any single individual, was owing the rapid dif¬ 
fusion of those sentiments and feelings which produced 
the act of separation from Croat Britain.” 

4 



38 


ROBERT BISSET, LL.D., 

In his “Life of Edmund Burke,” says: 

“A pamphlet, entitled ‘Common Sense/ published by 
Thomas Paine, afterwards so famous in Europe, contri¬ 
buted very much to the ratification of the independ¬ 
ence of America.” * * * 

In his “History of the Reign of George III,” Bisset 
says: 

“ Thomas Paine was represented (in England) as the 
minister of God, diffusing light to a darkened world.” 


RICHARD HILDRETH, 

In his “History of the United States,” says: 

“No little excitement was produced by the publica¬ 
tion, in Philadelphia, about this time, (1776) of ‘ Com¬ 
mon Sense/ a pamphlet-by Thomas Paine. * * * * 

It argued in that plain and convincing style, for which 
Paine was so distinguished, the folly of any longer 
attempting to keep up the British connection, and the 
absolute necessity of a final and formal separation. 
Pitched exactly to the popular tone, it had a wide cir¬ 
culation throughout the Colonies, and gave a powerful 
impulse to the cause of independence.” 


THOMAS CLIO RICKMAN, 

Author of a number of poems, tales and political 
pamphlets, says: 

“ Why seek occasions, surly critics and detractors, to 
maltreat and misrepresent Mr. Paine ? He was mild, 
unoffending, sincere, gentle, humble, and unassuming; 




39 


his talents were soaring, acute, profound, extensive and 
original; and he possessed that charity which covers 
a multitude of sins.” 

“I ever feel myself hurt when I hear the Union, that great 
palladium of our liberty and safety, the least irreverently spoken 
of. Our citizenship in the United States is our national character, 
our citizenship in any particular State is only our local distinction*. 
Our great title is Americans, our inferior one varies with the place.” 
—(Thomas Paine , the Crisis , No. XV.) 


W. H. BARTLETT, 

In his “ History of the United States of America,’ 
says: 

“It was at this critical period, while this feeling, 
though inoperative, yet lingered in the minds of the 
people, and when, although the thing itself had become 
familiarized to most minds as equally necessary and de¬ 
sirable, every one held back from boldly pronouncing the 
word Independence, that there appeared a pamphlet 
called ‘ Common Sense/ written by Thomas Paine, the 
celebrated author of the ‘Rights of Man/ who had re¬ 
cently emigrated from England, and ardently embraced 
the American cause. Perceiving the hesitation in the 
public mind, he set himself to the work of dissipating it 
by a clear and convincing statement of the actual position 
of affairs. He plainly exposed the impossibility of a last¬ 
ing reconciliation with England, and showed that inde¬ 
pendence had not only become the only safe or honor¬ 
able course, but that it was as practicable as it was 
desirable. * * * * This pamphlet, written in a 

popular and convincing style, and expressly adapted to 
the state of public feeling, produced an indescribable 
sensation. The ice was now broken; those who, 



40 


although convinced, had hitherto held back, came boldly 
forward, while many who had halted between two opi¬ 
nions now yielded to the force of necessity and em¬ 
braced the popular side.” 

“It is only by acting in union that the usurpations of foreign 
nations on the freedom of trade can be counteracted, and security 
extended to the commerce of America. And when we view a flag, 
which, to the eye, is beautiful, and to contemplate its rise and 
origin, inspires a sensation of sublime delight, our national honor 
must unite with our interest to prevent injury to the one, or insult 
to the other .”—(Thomas Paine , “ The Crisis ,” No. XYI.) 

/ . 

DR. JOHN W. FRANCIS, 

Of New York, said: 

“No work had the demand for readers comparable to 
that of Paine. ‘ The Age of Beason' on its first appear¬ 
ance in New York was printed as an orthodox book, by 
orthodox publishers, doubtless deceived by the vast re¬ 
nown which the author of ‘ Common Sense' had ob¬ 
tained.” 


“His (Paine's) career was wonderful, even for the 
age of miraculous events he lived in. In America he 
was a revolutionary hero of the first rank, who carried 
letters in his pocket from George Washington thanking 
him for his services ; and he managed besides to write 
his name in large letters in the history of England and 
France .”—(.Atlantic Monthly , vol. iv, p. 16.) 

“ The Democratic movement of the last eighty years, 
be it a ‘ finality' or only a phase of progress towards a 
more perfect state, is the grand historical fact of modern 
times, and Paine's name is intimately connected with 
it.”—(Ibid, p. IT.) 




BENJ. F. LOSSING 


Says : “ It (Common Sense) was the earliest and most 

powerful appeal in behalf of independence, and probably 
did more to fix that idea firmly in the public mind than 
any other instrumentality.”— (Field Book of Revolution, 
vol. ii, p. 274.) 

“ The flame of desire for absolute independence glow¬ 
ed in every patriot bosom at the beginning of 1776, 
and the vigorous paragraphs of ‘ Common Sense/ and kin¬ 
dred publications, laboring with the voice of impas¬ 
sioned oratory at every public gathering of the people, 
uncapped the volcano.”— (Ibid, p. 277.) 

“ It is only in the creation that all our ideas and conceptions of a 
word of God can unite. The creation speaketh a universal lan¬ 
guage, independently of human speech, or human language, multi¬ 
plied and various as they be. It is an ever existing original which 
every man can read. It cannot be forged ; it cannot be counter¬ 
feited ; it cannot be lost; it cannot be altered; it cannot be sup¬ 
pressed. It does not depend upon the will of man whether it shall 
be published or not; it publishes itself from one end of the earth 
to the other. It preaches to all nations and to all worlds, and this 
word of God reveals to man all that is necessary for man to know 
of God. Do we want to contemplate hi^ power ? We see it in the 
immensity of the creation. Do we want to contemplate his wis¬ 
dom ? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incom¬ 
prehensible whole is governed. Do we want to contemplate his 
munificence ? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the 
earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his 
not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful.”— 
[Paine's “ Age of Reason," page 26.) 


DR. LADD, 

A prominent poet of the Revolution, and, of course, like 
Ramsay, Allen, Botta, Gordon, and others, cited in this 
4 * 



42 


little work, a cotemporary of Thomas Paine, pays the 
following eloquent and glowing tribute to that remark¬ 
able man : 

“ Long live the man, in early contest found, 

Who spoke his heart when dastards trembled round; 
Who, fired with more than Greek or Roman rage, 
Flashed truth on tyrants from his manly page— 
Immortal Paine! whose pen surprised we saw", 
Could fashion Empires while it kindled awe. 

When first with awful front to crush her foes, 

All bright in glittering arms, Columbia rose, 

From thee our sons the generous mandate took, 

As if from Heaven some oracle had spoke ; 

And when thy pen revealed the grand design, 
’Tivas done —Columbia’s liberty was thine.” 

“ It is certain that, in one point, all nations of the earth and all 
religions agree; all believe in a God; the things in which they dis¬ 
agree are the redundancies annexed to that belief; and, therefore, 
if ever an universal religion should prevail, it will not be believing 
anything new, but getting rid of redundancies, and believing as 
man first believed. Adam, if ever there was such a man, was 
created a Deist; but in the meantime let every man follow, as he 
has a right to do, the religion and worship he prefers.”—( Age of 
Reason, p. 58.) 


JAMES CHEETHAM, 

The notorious apostate, speaking of whose “Life of 
Paine,” a Christian cotemporary* of his remarked, u we 
have every reason to believe it is a libel almost from 
beginning to end,” is compelled to admit, speaking of 
Paine’s ‘ Common Sense,’ that: (See “Life of Paine,” pp. 
45-6.) 


* Solomon Southwick. 




43 


“ This pamphlet, of 40 octavo pages, holding out re¬ 
lief by proposing Independence to an oppressed and 
despairing people, was published in January, 1776. 
Speaking a language which the Colonists had felt but 
not thought, its popularity, terrible in its consequences 
to the parent country, was unexampled in the history 
of the press. At first, involving the Colonists, .it was 
thought, in the crime of rebellion, and pointing to a 
road leading inevitably to ruin, it was read with indig¬ 
nation and alarm, but when the reader, (and everybody 
read it) recovering from the first shock, reperused it, its 
arguments, nourishing his feelings and appealing to his 
pride, re-animated his hopes and satisfied his under¬ 
standing, that 1 Common Sense/ backed by the resources 
and forces of the Colonies, poor and feeble as they were, 
could alone rescue them from the unqualified oppression 
with which they were threatened/’ “His pen was an 
appendage to the army of Independence as necessary 
and as formidable as its cannon. Having no property 
he fared as the army fared. * * * When the Colo¬ 

nists drooped, he revived them with a 1 Crisis.’ The 
object of it was good, the method excellent, and the 
language suited to the depressed spirits of the army.” 
—(.Life of Paine, page 55.) 


JAMES THOMPSON CALLENDER, 

In his “Sketches of the History of America,” says: 
(1798.) 

“On titles Thomas Paine has written with great suc¬ 
cess; and this is one reason why the friends of order 
hate him. Abuse of this author is now as naturally 
expected in a federal newspaper as tea and chocolate in 
a grocer’s store. To such things compare two resolu- 



44 


tions of Congress of the 26th August, and 8d October, 
1785. In consequence of his ‘ early, unsolicited, and 
continued labors in explaining and enforcing the prin¬ 
ciples of the late Revolution, by ingenious and timely 
publications, upon the nature of liberty and civil govern¬ 
ment/ they direct the board of treasury to pay him 
three thousand dollars. This attestation outweighs the 
clamor of the six per cent, orators. They dread, they 
revile, and, if able, they would persecute Thomas 
Paine, because he possesses talents and courage suffi¬ 
cient to rend assunder the mantle of speculation, and to 
delineate the rickety growth of our public debt.” 

* * * * “'Wishingye may always fully and uninterruptedly 

enjoy every civil and religious right; and be in your turn the 
means of securing it to others, but that the example which ye have 
unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may be disavowed 
and reprobated by every inhabitant of America ”—( Paine's “Address 
to Quakers.”) 


CHARLES BOTTA, 

An Italian patriot, historian, and physician, who fought 
for American Independence, and who must have been 
a good judge of the influence and merits of Paine’s 
writings, says: 

“ At this epoch appeared a Avriting entitled ‘ Common 
Sense / it was the production of Thomas Paine, born in 
England, and arrived not long before in America. No 
w r riter, perhaps, ever possessed, in a higher degree, the 
art of moving and guiding the multitude at his will. It 
may be affirmed, in effect, that this work Avas one of the 
most poAverful instruments of American Independence. 
The author endeavored, with very plausible arguments, 
to demonstrate that the opposition of parties, the diver- 



45 


sity of interests, the arrogance of the British Govern¬ 
ment, and its ardent thirst of vengeance, rendered all 
reconciliation impossible. On the other hand, he en¬ 
larged upon the necessity, utility, and possibility of In¬ 
dependence. * * * The success of this writing of 

Paine cannot be described.” 

“ O! ye that love mankind! ye that dare oppose, not only the 
tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth ! Every spot in the old world 
is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the 
Globe, Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards 
her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. 
O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for man¬ 
kind.”— (Paine's “ Common Sense”) 


THOMAS GASPEY, 

In his “History of England,” says: 

“At this period the celebrated Thomas Paine had 
entered upon his career as a public writer. In January, 
1776, his pamphlet, entitled ‘Common Sense/ appeared. 
That able production has been said to have been the 
joint composition of Paine, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Samuel 
and John Adams. Paine, however, denies that they in 
any way directly assisted him; to the two latter gentle¬ 
men he was not known at the time. He had been in¬ 
troduced to Franklin in England. * * * * * 
Paine was originally a member of the Society of Friends, 
and brought up as a staymaker at Thetfoi-d. Subse¬ 
quently he obtained a situation in the excise, but left it 
to become an assistant in a school; he became an ex¬ 
ciseman again, and a pamphlet which he wrote caused 
him to be noticed by Franklin, who advised him to visit 
America. ‘Common Sense’ opened with reflections on 
the origin and design of government, and it then pro- 



46 


ceedecl with a vigorous hand to expose the abuses which 
had crept into the English system. * * * * The 

clear and powerful style of Paine made a prodigious 
impression on the American people. * * * * * 

He was treated with great consideration by the mem¬ 
bers of the Revolutionary Government, who took no step 
of importance without consulting him.” 

“ The world may know, that as far as we approve of 
monarchy, in America the law is king”—(Common Sense, 
p. 46.) 


STEPHEN SIMPSON, 

Author of a “Life of Stephen Girard,” &c., says, in his 
“Lives of Washington and Jefferson with a Parallel:” 

“To these followed pamphlets and essays; among 
which stood in bold and prominent relief, distinguished 
for its eloquence, patriotism, and energy, the i Common 
Sense’ of Thomas Paine; which, combining great force 
of language, and power of argument with an irresistible 
array of facts and principles, too obvious to be denied 
and too reasonable to be confuted, carried conviction to 
every mind at the same time that they enlisted the 
most ardent feelings in the cause of liberty and inde¬ 
pendence ; agitating the calm and temperate with a 
glowing love of country, and infusing irresistible enthu¬ 
siasm into the bosoms of the ardent champions of the 
t Eights of Man.’ * * * Lucid in his style, forcible 

in his diction, and happy in his illustrations, he threw 
the charms of poetry over the statue of reason, and 
made converts to liberty as if a power of fascination pre¬ 
sided over his pen. * * * The writings of Thomas 

Paine have been admitted to have had more influence 



47 


in the accomplishment of the separation of the Colonies 
from the Mother Country than any other cause. * * 

To the genius of Thomas Paine, as a popular writer, and 
to that of George Washington, as a prudent, skillful, and 
consummate general, are the American people indebted 
for their rights, liberties and independence. The high 
opinion of Paine, entertained by Washington, and pub¬ 
licly expressed by tho latter, sheds fresh lustre on the 
incomparable merits of the great leader of the Army of 
the Revolution.” 


BAINES, THE HISTORIAN, 

In his “ Wars of the Revolution,” says, speaking of the 
influence of Paine's political writings in England: 

“ As the current of popular opinion did not flow in the 
same direction as the favor of the Court, a pamphlet, 
entitled the ‘ Rights of Man/ in which sentiments of an 
opposite kind were maintained with peculiar asperity 
and animadversion, was read and circulated in such a 
manner as to alarm the administration. Editions were 
multiplied in every form and size; it was alike seen in 
the hands of the noble and of the plebeian, and became, 
at length, translated into the various languages of Eu¬ 
rope. The cabinet council soon after issued a proclama¬ 
tion against 1 wicked and seditious libels,' prosecutions 
were commenced with a zeal unknown under the go¬ 
vernment of the reigning family; and it was reserved 
for the singular fortune of an unlettered man, after 
contributing by one publication to the establishment of 
a transatlantic republic in North America, to introduce, 
with astonishing effect, the doctrines of democratic go¬ 
vernment into the first states of Europe.” 



48 


HENEY G. WATSON, 

In his “History of the United States,” says: 

“A pamphlet, entitled ‘Common Sense/ written by 
Thomas Paine, arguing, in plain language, the advan¬ 
tage and necessity of Independence, effected a complete 
revolution in the feelings and sentiments of the great 
mass of the people.” 

“The Almighty Lecturer, by displaying the principles of science 
in the structure of the universe, has invited man to study and to 
imitation. It is as if He had said to the inhabitants of this globe, 
that we call ours, ‘I have made an earth for man to dwell upon, 
and I have rendered the starry heavens visible to teach him science 
and the arts. He can now provide for his own comfort, and 
LEARN FROM MY MUNIFICENCE TO ALL TO BE . KIND TO EACH 
other.’ ” — (Paine s “ Age of Reason,” p. 33.) 


FBANCIS OLDYS, (George Chalmers,) 

In his “ Life of Paine,” says : 

“Notwithstanding the reviews of criticism, our author 
received the applause of party. Nay, Philology came, 
in the person of Horne Tooke, who found out his retreat 
after some enquiry, to mingle her cordial congratula¬ 
tions with the thanks of greater powers. ‘ You aref 
said he, ‘ like Jove , coming down upon us in a shower of 
gold.’” 

“ If there is a sin superior to every other, it is that of wilful and 
offensive war. Most other sins are circumscribed within various 
limits, that is, the power of one man cannot give them a very 
general extension, but he who is the author of war, lets loose the 
whole contagion of hell, and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to 
death.”—(“ The Crisis,” No. 5.) 



49 


CAPEL LOFPT, 

An English barrister, poet and miscellaneous writer, 
made use of the following language, in a letter to T. C. 
Eickman, in 1795, after strongly criticising the “ Age of 
Eeason 

“I am glad Paine is living: he cannot be even wrong 
without enlightening mankind; such is the vigor of his 
intellect, such the acuteness of his research, and such 
the force and vivid perspicuity of his expression.” 


ALEXANDER ANDREWS, 

In his “History of British Journalism,” says: 

“Soon after this Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, published 
at irregular periods, but all numbered and paged like 
newspapers, and named the ‘American Crisis/ appeared, 
and first pronounced the words which had been falter¬ 
ing upon so many blanched lips, and trembling tongues 
of men who shuddered as they saw the only alternative 
more plainly—Independence and Separation.” 

* * * * “ l n my religious publications my endeavors have 

been directed to bring man to a right use of the reason that God 
' has given him; to impress on him the great principles of divine 
morality, justice, mercy, and a benevolent disposition to all men, 
and to all creatures, and to inspire in him a spirit of trust, confi¬ 
dence, and consolation in his Creator, unshackled by the fables of 
books pretending to be the word of God .”—(Thomas Paine.) 


MR. BOND, 

An English Surgeon, who was confined in the Luxem¬ 
bourg prison in Paris at the same time Paine was, and 




50 


who disagreed with him in both political and theologi¬ 
cal matters, asserts that: 

“ Mr Paine, while hourly expecting to die, read to me 
parts of his ‘Age of Reason,’ and every night when I 
left him to he separately locked up, and expected not to 
see him alive in the morning, he always expressed his firm 
belief in the principles of that book, and begged I would 
tell the world such were his dying opinions. He often 
said that if he lived he should prosecute further that 
work and print it.” 

Mr. Bond has frequently observed, says Bickman, the 
poet, that Paine was— 

“ The most conscientious man he ever knew.” 

“My path is a right line, as straight and clear to me as a ray of 
light. The boldness (if they will have it so) with which I speak 
on any subject, is a compliment to the person I address; it is like 
saying to him, I treat you as a man, and not as a child. ‘With re¬ 
spect to any worldly object, as it is impossible to discover any in me, 
therefore what I do, and my manner of doing it, ought to be ascribed 
to a good motive .”—(Thomas Paine ) 


WILLIAM SMYTHE, 

In his “Lectures on Modern History,” speaking of the 
“American Revolution,” says: 

“You will now observe the arguments that were used; 
you will see them in the very celebrated pamphlet of 
Paine—his‘Common Sense’—a pamphlet whose effect 
was such that it was quite a feature in this memorable 
contest. You may now read it, and wonder how a per¬ 
formance not marked, as you may at first sight suppose, 
with any particular powers of eloquence could possibly 
produce effects so striking. * * * * The pamphlet 
of Paine was universally read and admired in America, 
and is said to have contributed most materially to the 
vote of Independence, passed by Congress in 1776.” 



51 


REV. ARIEL HOLMES, 

In his u Annals of America,” says: 

“A pamphlet, under the signature of 1 Common 
Sense/ written by Thomas Paine, produced great effect. 
While it demonstrated the necessity, the advantages, 
and the practicability of Independence, it treated kingly 
government with opprobrium, and hereditary succession 
with ridicule. The change of the public mind on this 
occasion is without a parallel.” 


GUILLAUME TELL POUSSIN, 

In his work entitled “ The United States; its Power and 
Progress,” says of the influence of Paine’s writings : 

“ The condition of affairs day by day assumed a graver 
aspect. The unequal struggle between England and 
the still growing Colonies gave a decided preponder¬ 
ance to ideas of Independence. Several remarkable 
productions seemed to favor this enthusiasm. That of 
Thomas Paine, entitled 1 Common Sense/ exerted an 
overpowering influence. It rendered the sentiment of 
Independence national; and Congress, being the organ 
of public opinion, soon prepared to adopt this sentiment. 
By the resolution of the 8th of May, 1776, each Colony 
was requested to reject all authority emanating from 
the British Crown, and to establish a form of govern¬ 
ment that would accord with the particular interest of 
each State, and with that of the whole Confederation.” 


“ Paine also wrote a series of political pamphlets 
called ‘ The Crisis/ which were admirably adapted to 
the state of the times, and which did much toward 




52 


keeping alive the spirit of determined rebellion against 
the unjust government of Great Britain.”— Benjamin F. 
Lossing, in his Field Book of the Revolution, Vol. II, page 
274, Note: 

APPLETON’S CYCLOPAEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY 

Says: 

“He (Paine) then published his celebrated pamphlet, 

* Common Sense/ which, being written with great vigor 
and addressed to a highly excited population, had a 
prodigious sale, and undoubtedly accelerated the famous 
Declaration of Independence. * * * * He arrived 

in Calais, in September, 1792. The garrison at Calais 
were under arms to receive this ‘ friend of liberty/ the 
tri-colored cockade was presented to him by the mayor, 
and the handsomest woman in the town was selected to 
place it in his hat. Meantime Paine had been declared 
in Paris worthy of the honors of citizenship, and he 
proceeded thither, where he was received with every 
demonstration of extravagant joy.” 

‘‘Washington’s retreat to Trenton was a compulsive 
one. * * * I do not believe that even a number of 

‘ The Crisis ’ could have saved the American army and 
cause from annihilation, if Howe had been an active 
and persevering, an enlightened and energetic com¬ 
mander.”—( Cheetham’s Life of Paine, p. 57.) 

“The last ‘Crisis’ was published in Philadelphia April 
19th, 1783. Peace was now substantially concluded, 
and the Independence of the United States acknow¬ 
ledged. He who, if not the suggester, was the ablest 
literary advocate of independence, could do no less, when 
independence was acquired, than salute the nation on 
the great event.”— (Ibid, p. 92.) 




53 


JOHN TEHOST, LL. D., 

In his History of the United States, says: 

“ During the winter of 1775-6, many of the most able 
writers in America were employed in demonstrating the 
necessity and propriety of a total separation from the 
mother country, and the establishment of constitutional 
governments in the Colonies. One of the most conspicu¬ 
ous of these writers was Thomas Paine, who published 
a pamphlet under the signature of 1 Common Sense/ 
which produced great effect. It demonstrated the 
necessity, advantages and practicability of indepen¬ 
dence, and heaped reproach and disgrace on monarehial 
governments, and ridicule on hereditary succession. * 
* * * * Paine had shrewdness and cunning mixed 

with boldness in his manner of writing, and to this, 
perhaps, may be ascribed the uncommon effect of his 
essays on the inflamed minds of the Americans.— 
(.History U. S., vol. I, pp. 192-3, Simeon Collins , Phila¬ 
delphia, 1844.) 

“Let men learn to feel that the true greatness of a nation is 
founded on the principles of humanity; and that to avoid a war when 
her own existence is not endangered, and wherein the happiness of 
man must be wantonly sacrificed, is a higher principle of true 
honor than madly to engage in it .”—(Paine in “ Prospects on the 
Rubicon”) 


The author of “ The Eeligion of Science,” in his intro¬ 
duction to his Life of Paine, published by Calvin Blan¬ 
chard, of Hew York, says: 

“ There needs but to have the light of truth shine fully 
upon the real character of Thomas Paine, to prove him 
to have been a far greater man than his most ardent 
admirers have hitherto given him credit for being.” 

5* 




54 


HENRY S. RANDALL, 

In his “Life of Jefferson,” says: 

“We confess we have no sympathy with Mr. Paine’s 
religious views. If his personal character was what it 
is commonly alleged to have been, (though it is now 
said there has been a good deal of exaggeration, and 
even out and out invention on this head,) there was much 
in it no man can admire. But concede all the allega¬ 
tions against him, and it still leaves him the author 
of ‘Common Sense/ and certain other papers, which 
rung like clarions in the darkest hour of the Revolu- 
tionary struggle, inspiring the bleeding, and starving, 
and pestilence-stricken, as the pen of no other man 
ever inspired them. Whatever Paine’s faults or vices, 
however dark and crapulous the close of his stormy 
career, when he is spoken of as the patriot, and espe¬ 
cially as the Revolutionary and pre-Revolutionary writer, 
shame rest on the pen which dares not do him justice! and 
shame, also, ought to rest on the most cursory narrator 
of the events which heralded the Declaration of Indepen¬ 
dence, who should omit to enumerate the publication of 
* Common Sense ’ among them.” 


THE NEW YORK ADVERTISER, 

Of June 9th, 1809, has the following notice: 

“ Mr. Thomas Paine.— 

“ ‘ Thy spirit, Independence, let me share.’— Smollett. 

“With heartfelt sorrow and poignant regret we are 
compelled to announce to the world that Mr. Thomas 
Paine is no more. This distinguished philanthropist, 
whose life was devoted to the cause of humanity, de¬ 
parted this life yesterday morning, and if any man’s 



55 


memory deserved a plaee in the breast of a freeman, it 
is that of the deceased, for 

“ ‘Take him, for all in all, 

We ne’er shall look upon his like again.’ 

“ The friends of the deceased are invited to attend his 
funeral by 9 o’clock in the morning, from his late resi¬ 
dence at Greenwich, from whence his corpse will be 
conveyed to New Eochelle, for interment. 

“ * His ashes there, 

His fame every where.’ ” 

“ Every government that does not act on the principle of a re¬ 
public, or, in other words, does not make the res-publica its whole 
and sole object, is not a good government. Kepublican govern¬ 
ment is no other than government established and conducted 
for the interest of the public, as well individually as collectively. 
It is not necessarily connected with any particular form, but it 
most naturally associates with the representative form as being the 
best calculated to secure the end for which a nation is at the expense 
of supporting it.”—(“ Rights of Man,” Mendum’s Complete, Ed., 
Vol. II, page 172.) 


The UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE and REVIEW 

For April, 1793, concludes a review of “ The Eights of 
Man” with these words: 

“And now, courteous reader, we leave Mr. Paine 
entirely to thy mercy; what wilt thou say of him? 
Wilt thou address him ? < Thou art a troubler of privi¬ 

leged orders—we will tar and feather thee; nobles 
abhor thee, and kings think thee mad !’ Or wilt thou 
rather put on thy spectacles, study Mr. Paine’s physi¬ 
ognomy, purchase his print, hang it over thy chimney 
piece and, pointing to it, say : ‘ this is no common man ; 
this is the poor man’s friend !’” 



56 


WATSON, 

In his “ Annals of Philadelphia/’ says: 

“In June, 1785, John Pitch called on the ingenious 
William Henry, Esq., of Lancaster, to take his opinion 
of his draughts, who informed him that he (Fitch) was 
not the the first person who had thought of applying 
steam to vessels, for that Thomas Paine, author of 
< Common Sense’ had suggested the same to him, 
(Henry) in the winter of 1778.” 

“ There is a single idea, which, if it strikes rightly on the mind, 
either in a legal or a religious sense, will prevent any man, or any 
body of men, or any government, from going wrong on the subject 
of religion; which is, that before any human institutions of 
government were known in the world, there existed, if I may so 
express it, a compact between God and man, from the beginning 
of time: and that as the relation and condition which man in his 
individual person stands in towards his Maker cannot be changed 
by any human laws or human authority, that religious devotion, 
which is a part of this compact, cannot so much as be made a sub¬ 
ject of human laws; and that all laws must conform themselves to 
this prior existing compact, and not assume to make the compact 
conform to the laws, which, besides being human, are subsequent 
thereunto. The first act of man, when he looked around and saw 
himself a creature which he did not make, and a world furnished 
for his reception, must have been devotion; and devotion must 
ever continue sacred to every individual man, as it appears right to 
him ; and governments do mischief by interfering.”— Thos. Paine. 
(See works vol. 2, page 114, Boston Edition , 1856.) 


THE AUTHOR OF “THE ANALYST,” 

Published by Wiley & Putnam, Hew York, 1840, says 
of Paine: 

“It is allowed by all liberal judges, that, in his ‘Com¬ 
mon Sense/ and ‘The Crisis/ he strengthened in the 
American mind its aspirations after liberty; gave them 



57 


the right direction, manfully exhorted them in their waver¬ 
ing hour ; and acted the part of a freeman and an active 
friend to humanity” 

WALTER MORTON, 

In a short narrative of Paine, says: 

“In his religious opinions he continued to the last as 
steadfast and tenacious as any sectarian to the definition 
of his own creed. He never, indeed, broached the sub¬ 
ject first, but to intrusive and inquisitive visitors, who 
came to try him on that point, his general answer was 
to this effect: ‘My opinions are now before the world, 
and all have an opportunity to refute them if they can. 
I believe them unanswerable truths, and that I have 
done great service to mankind by boldly putting them 
forth. I do not wish to argue upon the subject now. I 
have labored disinterestedly in the cause of truth/ I 
shook his hand after his use of speech was gone; but, 
while the other organs told me sufficiently that he knew 
me and appreciated my affection, his eye glistened with 
genius under the pangs of death.” 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENN'A, 

In 1785, passed the following: 

“ Whereas , During the late Revolution, and particularly 
in the most trying and perilous times thereof, many 
very eminent services were rendered to the people of 
the United States by Thomas Paine, Esq., accompanied 
with sundry distinguished instances of fidelity, patriot¬ 
ism and disinterestedness ; 

“ And whereas , That the said Thomas Paine did, du¬ 
ring the whole progress of the Revolution, voluntarily 
devote himself to the service of the public, without accept¬ 
ing recompense therefor, and, moreover did decline tak- 




58 


ing or receiving the profits which authors are entitled 
to on the sale of their literary works, but relinquished 
them for the better accommodation of the country, and 
for the honor of the public cause; 

“ And whereas , Besides the knowledge which this 
House has of the services of the said Thomas Paine, the 
same having been recommended to us by his Excellency, 
the President, and the Supreme Executive Council of 
the State, of the 16th of December last past, and by the 
friendly offices of the late patriotic Commander-in-chief, 
General "Washington; 

“ Be it enacted, And it is hereby enacted, by the Rep- 
resentatives of the freemen of the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and by the 
authority of the same, that, as a temporary recompense 
the said Thomas Paine, and until a suitable provision 
shall be further made, either federally by Congress, or 
otherwise, the Supreme Executive Council be authorized 
and empowered to draw on the Treasurer of this State 
for the sum of £500 in favor of and payable to the said 
Thomas Paine. 

“ Signed by order of the House, 

“JOHN BAYARD, Speaker.” 


The following song, though the same metre as the 
“Star Spangled Banner,” was written by Mr. Paine, 
many years before the production of our national song 
by Mr. Key, and was originally published under the 
title of 

“THE BOSTON PATRIOTIC SONG.” 

Ye sons of Columbia who bravely have fought 
For those rights which unstain’d from your sires have descended, 
May you long taste the blessings your valor has bought, 

And your sons reap the soil which your fathers defended; 

Mid the reign of mild peace 



59 


May your nation increase 

With the glory of Rome, and the wisdom of Greece; 

And ne’er may the sons of Columbia be slaves 
While the earth bears a plant or the sea rolls its waves. 

The fame of our arms, of our laws the mild sway, 

Had justly ennobled our nation in story, 

’Till the dark clouds of faction obscured our bright day 
And envelop’d the sun of American glory; 

\ But let traitors be told, 

Who their country have sold, 

And bartered their God for his image in gold, 

That ne’er shall the sons, &c. 

While France her huge limbs bathes recumbent in blood, 

And society’s base, threats with wide dissolution; 

May peace like the dove, who returned from the flood, 

Find an ark of abode in our mild constitution; 

But though peace is our aim, 

Yet the boon we disclaim 
If bought by our sovereignty, justice or fame. 

For ne’er shall the sons, &c. 

*Tis the fire of the flint each American warms, 

Let Rome’s haughty victors beware of collision! 

Let them bring all the vassals of Europe in arms, 

We ’re a world by ourselves, and disdain a division; 

While with patriot pride 
To our laws we ’re allied, 

No foe can subdue us, no faction divide ; 

For ne’er shall the sons, &c. 

Let our patriots destroy vile anarchy’s worm, 

Lest our liberty’s growth should be check’d by corrosion, 
Then let clouds thicken round us, we heed not the storm, 

Our earth fears no shock, but the earth’s own explosion. 

Foes assail us in vain, 

Tho’ their fleets bridge the main, 

For our altars and claims, with our lives we’ll mantain. 

For ne’er shall the sons, &c. 

Let Fame, to the world, sound America’s voice, 

No intrigue can her sons from their government sever ; 


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


60 



0 011 799 611 6 

Its wise regulations and laws, are their cnoice, 

And shall flourish till Liberty slumber forever. 

Then unite heart and hand, 

Like Leonidas’ hand; 

And swear by the God of the ocean and land, 

That ne’er shall the sons of Columbia he slaves, 

While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 


GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE, 

Author of “The Trial of Theism,” &c., and editor of 
“ The London Keasoner,” says: 

“Paine, like Defoe, was the personation of English 
common sense. * * * * Paine was the Prophet of 

American Destiny—the great Pamphleteer of its Inde¬ 
pendence. * * * He was the Thinker for the People. 
He found out the obvious thoughts of the period and 
showed them to the nation, and created those which 
were wanting. * ^ * * Paine's merits and de- 

merij^irere all popular. His 'errors were broad and 
his virtues hearty. There was nothing small or mean 
about him. He was a strong man all through. The 
man who was the confidant of Burke, (before the un¬ 
happy days when Burke’s reason failed him,) the coun¬ 
sellor of Franklin, and the friend and colleague of 
Washington, must have had great qualities. * * * * 
If Paine was coarse, he had capacity and integrity; if 
the oak was gnarled, it had strength—if the ore was 
rough, there was gold in it. * * * * Let us do 

justice to him.” 

- 0 -- 

ERRATA. 

Page 7, Washington, line 13, read epocha for epoch. 

Page 8, Adams, line 10, read attempts for attempt. 

Page 12, South wick, dele Rev. 

Page 12, “ line 3, read Visitant for Visiter. 

Page 12, “ line 9, read Tyrtceus for Tintochus. 
















































